Well, after selling my DM-6 mount about 5 months ago and severely wanting to find a cost efficient replacement, I stumbled across an excellent deal on a Giro 3. While I'm waiting for delivery...can any of you owners of this mount, give me some pointers for best results?

I agree, balance is one of the two key factors. The other one is stability. A good tripod is a must. I use a surveyor's tripod with my Giro-2, and it works very well with an Intes Micro MN66, rotateable tube rings and other heavy accessories.

When I got my Giro II I simply put the scope on and was highly impressed with the results. I then got another scope an put that on the other side at the same time. Ahh... the penny clicked, it was even better.

There was no issue at all with the Giro II being loaded on one side, indeed I spent a year like that in blissful ignorance. However getting the balance right suddenly moved it up a whole new level.

Well, after selling my DM-6 mount about 5 months ago and severely wanting to find a cost efficient replacement, I stumbled across an excellent deal on a Giro 3. While I'm waiting for delivery...can any of you owners of this mount, give me some pointers for best results?

I was in the same boat - just could not put down the $1,800 for the DM6 / tripod combo - too much $$ for a non-tracking mount IMHO.

After talking with Mark at Teton (several times over a couple months) I eventually opted to go for the GIRO III Twin View and I've been very happy with it. I mounted it on an old Gibraltar tripod (needed a large Fender washer on the Gibraltar neck so the base had a flat platform for attachment) which works just fine for my AP Stowaway with a binoviewer. The 7 lb cw all the way out is just fine for balancing in azimuth, and I bought an 8" AP mounting plate so I had an extra degree of freedom and quick adjustments for altitude balancing.

I have used the Stowaway and a Mewlon 210 on it simultaneously, and it worked, but it was a bit much for the Gibraltar tripod. However the GIRO head handled it without breaking a sweat. Most of the time however I just use a single scope on it with the cw shaft & 7 lb cw.

The motions are nice and smooth and I can hand-track up to about 250x before it gets a little bumpy, but I've used it 378x and managed to still get a decent view but YMMV. I have no doubt that the DM6 is the king of alt-az, but for 1/3 the price the GIRO III is tough to beat. It just gets out of the way and does its job nicely without any hassles.

We use the GiroIII (dual arm) for C8 + SV102ED or either scope and a binoculars. Nice action and it's smooth. Lots of weight capacity. Like most of these, you still have to set it up nicely balanced, but then it's fast and easy to use. We put it on an LXD75 tripod with no problem.

I've been using a Giro II for several years and continue to be happy with it. I've had a DM-6 and DM-4 along the way but sold both in favor of the Giro. By having the counterweight option movements can be tuned to be smoother and less resistant than either of the other mounts. The Giro can also handle heavier loads. I've had a Mewlon 250 and a friend's AP 155/7 on either side of the Giro mounted on an AP wood tripod and it was easy to track planets at 200X+. And by applying a little tension using the alt tension knob scope movement due to imbalance when changing eyepieces can be avoided.

I've tried many alt/az mounts, ranging from Gilbralter to DiscMounts to HalfHitch to Wimberly and more. I've settled on the Giro for use with heavier scopes and a Modified Teegul for use with lighter ones.

I never seem to get any tension out of my Alt knob on my Giro II. I do carefully balance so it's not normally an idea but I would like to use the knob if it could.

There's a cylindrical plug that sits inside the hole that the tension knob is threaded into. Sometimes those plugs are too "slippery" and it's difficult or impossible to create any meaningful tension no matter how much you try to tighten the knob. Mine was this way when I first bought it several years ago. Markus sent me a replacement plug and that has largely solved the problem. I still can't completely prevent the alt axis from moving if pushing hard on it but it can be tightened more than enough to prevent any movement due to eyepiece changes (or even diagonal removal, etc.) Perhaps Mark at Teton can provide a replacement plug for you to try.

Rob- for a wedge, you have your mounted on top of your pan head on the quickset tripod, right? Can't you just use the pan function to act like a wedge?

Sadly the pan head doesn't get enough angle on it. I'm London, UK and need 51 or so degrees, but only get around 35 degrees or so. I could adjust one of the legs but I hate to do that in case I get it wrong and the scope topples over. It's one of those projects that I keep looking at, if I can get the top bolt to lock more then a wedge makes more sense and I can gently pan across the sky.

To be honest, it was more for public solar viewing, I sometimes put a white light filter on a 100mm TMB F8, my Lunt scope is somewhat delayed , and I don't have an EQ mount big enough for the TMB. The advantage of the TMB is I can put a 2" 40mm EP in and the public can easily see the Sun and what little activity we have. Of course all of this is moot as we have had the most awful summer in the UK and the TMB is under the stairs quietly rusting away

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I have had a little time to play with this mount over the weekend and must say....I'm liking it so far. very smooth, and believe it or not.... I actually had an easier time balancing it, then my first time with my old DM-6. I received it with a real nice 15" AP saddle and dovetail and have ordered the second arm and ADM dual saddle that accepts both the Losmandy and Vixen style dovetails. After seeing the pics above, I don't believe that weight will be an issue. I'd like to get an MN76 to go with my smaller APO scopes.

I'm looking for a better Alt/Az mount (without breaking the bank) to replace my Voyager, and the Giro 3 looks like it might be the one. The Voyager is ok, but I'm looking for something that can handle a bit more weight, and with smoother motions. By all reports this looks like it!

I'd be interested to hear from others that may have made the same switch to see what you think.

The half-hitch and discmounts are just way too much money for me. This sounds nearly as good for much less!

I have the Giro II not the III, so can't speak definitively. But I can say that the Giro II is very, very smooth. It does not have slo-mo controls that HH has but it has the ability to take large loads. I easily put nearly 30lbs on mine (15lbs per side) and it doesn't even break a sweat. I suspect it could take 50-60lbs (subject to tripod).

It benefits from even balancing, it's very, very smooth without it but even better with it. I used it for months without realising it could be even better if I put a counter weight on.

The Orion looks very similar to Ayo/WO mount. I would actually say they are the same to be honest, though no doubt somebody will correct me.

I understand them to be very good mounts in their own right. There is a technical bug in the WO mount with the engraving of the circles. They got it the wrong way round so that as you rotate it clockwise the numbers go from 360 to 0 rather than the other way round. It does not detract from the usage of it and is an interesting anecdote more than anything else.

The Orion and WO mounts are the other ones I'm considering, but it seems to me that maybe the Giro 3 would be better (without having used any of them).

Any comparisons of the Giro to the WO, Orion or Voyager would be useful. I can buy the Orion and WO here in Australia locally, so if they're just as good I'd go that way. I don't mind ordering a Giro 3 from the US, but it will cost me a bit more due to shipping.